Three in five Romanians make the decision to buy a new home in no more than three months, and most view a maximum of five properties before the purchase, found an international ING survey on home ownership.

"Although half of Romanians say that finding a home that ticked all their selection criteria was difficult, they were the most determined and fastest to decide in Europe in 2020. Three in five Romanians said they found their home in three months at the most, placing Romania first among the European countries participating in the survey," said ING.

More than 60.9 percent of Romanians found their home after viewing five properties at the most, while another 22.8 percent bought their home after visiting between six and ten properties.

Romania is in the third position of the ranking by homeowners without a mortgage (46.5 percent), being surpassed only by Italy (49.3 percent) and Poland (54.1 percent). Also, Romanians are last in Europe in terms of purchasing a home through a mortgage loan (14.9 percent).

Also, just few Romanians (11.5 percent) are renters, compared to Germans (53.5 percent) or Austrians (48.4 percent), and one in four Romanians report living with friends or family, well above the European average. At the opposite end from this point of view are the Germans (4.1 percent) or the French (5.9 percent).

When they have to choose between their dream home and an affordable home, over half of Romanians put the price first, and over 30 percent believe that they have lost at least one property deal because another customer was willing to pay more. 58.3 percent of Romanians offered exactly the price requested by the seller, and only 24.8 percent negotiated to get a better offer.

A share of 57.2 percent of Romanians bought a home because they wanted to own the place where they live, and only 5.7 percent of Romanians say they considered the purchase as an investment; this is the lowest rate in Europe by this criterion where Luxembourgers (25 percent), the French (21.4 percent) and Germans (19.6 percent) hold the lead. In terms of financial support, Romanians turned first to family (44.7 percent), then to a banking consultant (22.1 percent) or friends (18.1 percent).

Almost half (47.4 percent) of the surveyed Romanians consider moving or buying a home in the next two years, although three in five believe that prices will rise and that since 2015 it has become much harder for newcomers to the housing market to buy a house.

"Romanians who intend to buy will have as main decision criteria a quiet and safe environment, design and energy efficiency, a generous living area, a garden of their own or facilities such as nearby shops or hospitals. On the other hand, 44 percent of Romanians say their income has decreased since the start of the pandemic, placing Romania on top of the surveyed countries. 65.9 percent of Romanians report having reduced the expenses which they do not consider essential. Conversely, only 17.2 percent of the Dutch or 17.3 percent of Luxembourgers said that their incomes had suffered during this period," shows the release.

The ING-commissioned international survey on home ownership was conducted by Ipsos through online questionnaires in 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The survey took place in September 2020.

ING Bank Romania is part of ING Group, a global international financial institution which offers banking services to over 38.8 million individual customers, companies or institutions in over 40 countries. AGERPRES (RO - author: Nicoleta Banciulea, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)